Should we double referees pay? | How hard is the Arsenal run in?

Well, not really. The retirement age for refs is 45 years old. Pretty young when you consider NFL refs are generally about 80 years old! I think they earn max £85k a year. Not a bad salary, but also not the sort of salary that has you retiring to a beach hut in your mid-forties.

I think that’s an issue. When the people you’re trying to control earn more in a week than you do in a year, it leaves you open to many things. To be honest, I think a talent agency is the least of the FAs problems.

The worry is that refs end up playing a role that isn’t simply being the official for a game, it’s being the star to make a name. I always felt Graham Poll was a bit like that. He used to make all the games about him, sure enough, when he quit he landed speaking spots on Talksport and Sky as well as a column in the Daily Mail. He had to, because how else was he supposed to make a living after he retired?

The best refs should earn the best money. I mean, £300k a year would be enough to retire at 45 if you were careful. Or at least make life more comfortable. I know that’s pretty obscene, but hey, they’re at the top of their industry in a game that churns out hideous contracts for those that play. They are 23rd person on the pitch and they can dictate the play in the same way Ozil can.

You need them to not be compromised.

Anyway, Celebrity Big Brother awaits old Clatts.

Arsene Wenger is apparently going to make a move for Michael Carrick at the end of the season. He wants to move for the 34 year old in a midfield overhaul. Yep, that’s what the Mirror are reporting, totally straight-faced. Arsenal, who have had nightmares with Arteta and Rosicky, because they are old, are going to overhaul their midfield with Carrick. I remember Carrick from his West Ham days. He walked past my friends girlfriend when we were in Time & Envy in Romford and said he was going to f*ck her. What a charmer.

Not sure he’s quite what we need.

What we do need is a replacement for Santi in the middle this summer. I don’t have any names for you, but I think our season has felt the force of his loss quite badly. Good news, is if he is back in contention, we might have him for the last ten games.

That would give me hope of doing something magic in the league.

We really do have a turgid few months in the league

United (away)

Swansea (home)

Spurs (away)

West Brom (home)

Everton (home)

Watford (home)

West Ham (away)

Palace (home)

Sunderland (away)

Norwich (home)

City (away)

Villa (home)

The four highlighted games are the monsters. That’s where we’ll need resolve. On paper, they’re not too bad. I mean, we’re good against Spurs, United and City are waiting on new managers and we normally beat West Ham. However, we’re great at choking and this will be squeaky bum time.

We also have FA Cup games and two tricky showdowns against Barcelona.

It’s going to be a nasty end to the season, but hey, we all have to play the same teams. We’ll also have a fully fit squad to choose from. So no excuses. We’ll see how much all those home games in the first half of the season impact us!

Worry is Leicester have a much easier run than us, no Champions League and no other competitions. The Liverpool advantage… rest and plenty of time to work on a game plan.

As for Spurs… don’t even. Don’t even.

Right, I have a tonne of work to do… see you on the other side!

317 Responses to “Should we double referees pay? | How hard is the Arsenal run in?”

Reports saying that Oxlaide wants a pay increase to over £100k/wk. Could be rubbish but wouldnt suprise me. There is a serious problem with the bubble that these British kids live in and the club are their main enablers

On current form, Iwobi is a better player than Ox. Ox should not be paisd more than 30k per week. This club wastes money on trainees. demand a steep pay rise when you master your art and perform consistently.

I have to say I’m not really sure about the Kante-Coquelin comparisons. Everytime I’ve seen Kante this season he has played as a B2B midfielder using his energy to press and win the ball high up the pitch ala Matuidi. Drinkwater plays a lot deeper than him.

Considering how short out team is it makes you wonder how we’ve scored more headed goals than any other over the last few seasons. I can only really count Koscielny and Giroud who score headers. Maybe you can add Welbeck to that now he is back. He scored a good one for us last season but I forgot who it was against.

I think we basically outplayed Leicester on the day. At 11 v 11, we still outplayed them and should have had penalties for handballs and more yellows for repetitive fouling. Why do the refs gloss over these repetitive fouls against Arsenal.

I wager that Spurs are the main threat for the League title, not Leicester.

I wrote a post yesterday, I think, and it seems to have disappeared…though I think it was due to the airports flakey wifi.

But yeah, a good win against Leicester like I predicted. I don’t think anyone would disagree that we were deserved winners. After the flak dished out to Walcott and Welbeck, it seems like it was writtein in the stars that they’d notch a goal apiece.

We really need to be taking it to Utd: they are on a next level of tripe. Top, as it has been, since before xmas, I sawn up, imho. Only thing that would surprise me is if Leicester folded and went on a fat skid.

I still feel we can win this league. Leicester have no business in the top 4, let alone top half. Spurs have no arsehole; and there’s no telling what City will turn up. They’ve been terrible, especially for the amount they spent. So it leave Arsenal…ultimate bottlers, to actually do something

To be honest everyone loves that cunt Kante including myself but I doubt Wenger will pay big Money for a French
Remember he said schneiderlin not worth £25M. Yes he can play alongside Coq n Yes he’ll be great addition to the squad especially if Barca doesn’t stop harassing us for Ramsey. We take the Money n bring in N’golo Kante